Hurricane
Katrina came and went in a few short days, but she left behind a
trail of death and destruction and Political embarrassment that will
be burned forever in the nation's memory. Effects
of widespread damage and flooding may be felt for years to come.

It
was reported on September 4, 2005$10 to 25
billion (insured damage reported so far), $20 to 100 billion (proj. -
likely to be the most expensive Atlantic hurricane of all time: CNN
reported on September 2, 2005 that damages to New Orleans alone will
exceed 100 billion)

Hurricane
Katrina was the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes in the
history of the United States. It was the sixth-strongest Atlantic
hurricane ever recorded and the third-strongest landfalling U.S.
hurricane on record

Most
notable in media coverage were the catastrophic effects on the city
of New Orleans, Louisiana, and in coastal Mississippi. Due to its
sheer size, Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast as far as 100 miles
(160 km) from the storm's center. Katrina was the third major
hurricane, and second Category 5 hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic
season, though not at landfall.

It formed
over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005, and crossed southern Florida as
a moderate Category 1 hurricane, causing some deaths and flooding
there, before strengthening rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico and
becoming one of the strongest hurricanes on record while at sea. The
storm weakened before making its second and third landfalls as a
Category 3 storm on the morning of August 29 in southeast Louisiana
and at the Louisiana/Mississippi state line, respectively.

The storm
surge caused severe and catastrophic damage along the Gulf coast,
devastating the cities of Mobile, Alabama; Waveland and
Biloxi/Gulfport in Mississippi; and New Orleans and other towns in
Louisiana. Levees separating Lake Pontchartrain and several canals
from New Orleans were breached by the surge, subsequently flooding
80% of the city and many areas of neighboring parishes for weeks.
Severe wind damage was reported well inland.

At least
1,836 people lost their lives in Hurricane Katrina and in the
subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the
1928 Okeechobee Hurricane. The storm is estimated to have been
responsible for $81.2 billion (2005 U.S. dollars) in damage, making
it the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Criticism of the
federal, state and local governments' reaction to the storm was
widespread and resulted in an investigation by the United States
Congress and the resignation of FEMA director Michael Brown.

Fatalities:

1,836 total

Areas affected:

extreme
destruction in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana (especially
Greater New Orleans); strong impact on Florida; also affected Texas,
Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, and many other eastern U.S. states,
eastern Ontario and eastern Quebec, Canada, and the Bahamas

Hurricane
Katrina was one of the most destructive tropical cyclones ever to hit
the United States.

Hurricane
Katrina was a hurricane that at its peak had a strength
classification of Category
5 before later being downgraded to a Category
4 at its second most significant
landfall. Extensive and severe damage was caused by the hurricane
across the Gulf
Coast region of the southeastern United States,
including Louisiana's largest city, New Orleans, on August 29, 2005.

Federal
disaster declarations blanketed 90,000 square miles (233,000 km²)
of the United States, an area almost as large as the United Kingdom.
The hurricane left an estimated five million people without power,
and it may be up to two months before all power is restored. Disaster
relief plans are in operation in the affected areas.

Early in
the morning of August 30, 2005 and as a direct result of Hurricane
Katrina, breakages
in the levee system in New Orleans
caused a second and even greater disaster. Heavy flooding covered the
entire city over a sustained period, forcing the total evacuation of
over a million people. The city was now uninhabitable, due to its
being below sea level meaning that the water had nowhere to go.

On
September 3, 2005 US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff
described the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as "probably the
worst catastrophe, or set of catastrophes" in the country's
history, referring to the Hurricane itself plus the flooding of New Orleans.

Katrina
may be the deadliest hurricane in the United States since the
Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which killed around 8,000 (possibly up
to 12,000) people. As of 7 PM CDT September 1, 2005, more than 20,000
are still reported missing.

New
Orleans mayor Ray Nagin stated on August 31 that the death toll of
Katrina may be "in the thousands", which was
confirmed by emergency responders through a statement by Louisiana
Governor Kathleen Blanco on September 1.

C Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans

1,836
fatalities total

Hurricane
Katrina wind swath

Storm development

The U.S.
National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued a statement on August 23
saying that Tropical Depression Twelve had formed over the
southeastern Bahamas. The numbering of the system was debated, as
Tropical Depression Twelve formed partially from the remains of
Tropical Depression Ten. The naming and numbering rules at the NHC
require a system to keep the same identity if it dies, then
regenerates, which would normally have caused this storm to remain
numbered Ten.

However,
the NHC gave this storm a new number because a second disturbance
merged with the remains of Tropical Depression Ten on August 20, and
there is no way to tell whether the remnants of T.D. Ten should be
credited with this storm. (This is different from Hurricane Ivan in
the 2004 season, when the NHC ruled that Ivan did indeed reform; the
remnant of Ivan that regenerated in the Gulf of Mexico was a distinct
system from the moment Ivan originally dissipated to the moment it
regained tropical storm strength)

The
system was upgraded to Tropical Storm Katrina on the morning of
August 24. Katrina became the fourth hurricane of the 2005 season on
August 25 and made landfall later that day around 6:30 p.m. between
Hallandale Beach and Aventura, Florida.

Hurricane
Katrina on August 28, 2005, near its peak intensity

Katrina
spent only a few hours over South Florida. Katrina was predicted to
go across South and Southwest Florida. However, Katrina moved farther
to the south than expected and soon regained hurricane strength after
emerging into the Gulf of Mexico on the morning of August 26. Katrina
then quickly strengthened to Category
2 and its pressure dropped to 971
mbar, which prompted a special update from the NHC at 11:30 a.m. EDT
(1530 UTC). At 5:00 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC) on August 27, Katrina's
pressure dropped to 945 mbar and it was upgraded to Category
3.The same
day President
Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana,
two days before the hurricane made landfall.

At 12:40
a.m. CDT (0540 UTC) on August 28, Katrina was upgraded to Category
4. Later that morning, Katrina went
through a period of rapid intensification, with its maximum sustained
winds reaching as high as 175 mph (280 km/h) (well above the Category
5 threshold of 156 mph (250 km/h))
and a pressure of 906 mbar by 1:00 p.m. CDT. Nonetheless, on August
29 the system made landfall as a strong Category 4 hurricane at 6:15
a.m. CDT near Buras-Triumph, Louisiana with maximum sustained winds
of 145 mph (235 km/h).

Katrina,
which affected a very wide swath of land covering a good portion of
eastern North America, was last seen in the eastern Great Lakes
region. Before being absorbed by the frontal boundary, Katrina's last
known position was over southeast Quebec and northern New Brunswick.
Its lowest minimum pressure at landfall was 918 mbar, making it the
third strongest hurricane on record to make landfall on the United
States. A 15 to 30 foot (5 to 9 m) storm surge came ashore on
virtually the entire coastline from Louisiana, Mississippi and
Alabama to Florida. The 30 foot (10 m) storm surge recorded at
Biloxi, Mississippi is the highest ever observed in America.

At 11
p.m. EDT on August 31 (0300 UTC, September 1), U.S. government
weather officials announced that the center of the remnant low of
what was Katrina had been completely absorbed by a frontal boundary
in southeastern Canada, with no discernible circulation.

The
Hydrometeorological Prediction Center's last public advisory on
Katrina was at 11 p.m. EDT Wed 31 August 2005 and the Canadian
Hurricane Centre's last public advisory on Katrina was at 8 a.m. EDT
Wed 31 August 2005

Tornadoes

There
were tornado reports near Adams and Cumberland counties, Pennsylvania
also in Fauquier, Virginia and in Atlanta, Georgia; in White County,
Georgia; at Helen, Georgia; and Mobile, Alabama.

No deaths
were reported from the tornadoes, but several injuries were reported
in Georgia. 500,000 chickens were killed or set free after dozens of
poultry houses were damaged in Georgia. There was major damage in
Helen, GA, destroying homes and a hotel.

two
days before the hurricane made landfall. This declaration activated
efforts by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to position
stockpiles of food, water and medical supplies throughout Louisiana
and Mississippi more than a day before Katrina made landfall. On
August 28 the National Weather Service issued a bulletin predicting
"devastating" damage rivaling the intensity of Hurricane
Camille. The risk of devastation from a direct hit, however, was well
documented. The Times-Picayune newspaper did a series on it [Wall
Street Journal Online, by Joe Hagan, 8-31-05, p. A5]. National
Geographic Magazine ran a feature in October 2004 [5]. Walter
Williams did a serious short feature on it called New Orleans: The
Natural History, in which an expert said a direct hit by a hurricane
could damage the city for six months.

The city
of New Orleans was considered to be particularly at risk since most
of it is below sea level and it was likely that the expected storm
surge would flood the city after topping the surrounding levees.

Evacuation

On the
morning of August 26, at 10 a.m. CDT (1500 UTC), Katrina had
strengthened to a Category 3 storm in the Gulf of Mexico. Later that
afternoon, the NHC realized that Katrina had yet to make the turn
toward the Florida Panhandle and ended up revising the predicted
track of the storm from the panhandle to the Mississippi coast. The
NHC issued a hurricane watch for southeastern Louisiana, including
the New Orleans area at 10 a.m. CDT August 27. That afternoon the NHC
extended the watch to cover the Mississippi and Alabama coastlines as
well as the Louisiana coast to Intracoastal City.

The
United States Coast Guard began pre-positioning resources beyond the
expected impact zone starting on August 26, and activated more than
400 reservists. Aircrews from the Aviation Training Center, in
Mobile, staged rescue aircraft from Texas to Florida. All aircraft
were returning back towards the Gulf of Mexico by the afternoon of
August 29. Air crews, many who lost their homes during the hurricane,
began a round-the-clock rescue effort in New Orleans, and along the
Mississippi and Alabama coastlines.

President
George W. Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana, Alabama,
and Mississippi two days before the hurricane made landfall. That
same evening, the NHC upgraded the section of the hurricane watch
from Morgan City, Louisiana to the Alabama-Florida border to a
hurricane warning, 12 hours after it was issued, and also issued a
tropical storm warning for the westernmost Florida Panhandle.

On August
28, as the sheer size of Katrina became clear, the NHC extended the
tropical storm warning zone to cover most of the Louisiana coastline
and a larger proportion of the Florida Panhandle. The National
Weather Service's New Orleans/Baton Rouge office issued a
vividly-worded bulletin predicting that the area would be
"uninhabitable for weeks" after "devastating
damage" caused by Katrina, which at that time rivaled the
intensity of Hurricane Camille.

Voluntary
and mandatory evacuations were issued for large areas of southeast
Louisiana as well as coastal Mississippi and Alabama. About 1.2
million residents of the Gulf Coast were covered under a voluntary or
mandatory evacuation order.

Gulf Coast

On August
26, the state of Mississippi activated its National Guard in
preparation of the storm's landfall. Additionally, the state
government activated its Emergency Operations Center the next day,
and local governments began issuing evacuation orders. By 7:00 p.m.
EDT on August 28, 11 counties and eleven cities issued evacuation
orders, a number which increased to 41 counties and 61 cities by the
following morning. Moreover, 57 emergency shelters were established
on coastal communities, with 31 additional shelters available to open
if needed. Louisiana's hurricane evacuation plan calls for local
governments in areas along and near the coast to evacuate in three
phases, starting with the immediate coast 50 hours before the start
of tropical storm force winds. Persons in areas designated Phase II
begin evacuating 40 hours before the onset of tropical storm winds
and those in Phase III areas (including New Orleans) evacuate
30 hours before the start of such winds.

Many
private care-taking facilities that relied on bus companies and
ambulance services for evacuation were unable to evacuate their
charges. Fuel and rental cars were in short supply and many forms of
public transportation had been shut down well before the storm
arrived. Some estimates claimed that 80% of the 1.3 million residents
of the greater New Orleans metropolitan area evacuated, leaving
behind substantially fewer people than remained in the city during
the Hurricane Ivan evacuation.

By
Sunday, August 28, most infrastructure along the Gulf Coast had been
shut down, including all Canadian National Railway and Amtrak rail
traffic into the evacuation areas as well as the Waterford Nuclear
Generating Station.[15] The NHC maintained the coastal warnings until
late on August 29, by which time Hurricane Katrina was over central Mississippi.

Greater
New Orleans area

By August
26, the possibility of unprecedented cataclysm was already being
considered. Many of the computer models had shifted the potential
path of Katrina 150 miles westward from the Florida Panhandle,
putting the city of New Orleans right in the center of their track
probabilities; the chances of a direct hit were forecast at 17%, with
strike probability rising to 29% by August 28. This scenario was
considered a potential catastrophe because 80% of the city of New
Orleans and the Metro area on the southern shore is below sea level
along Lake Pontchartrain. Since the storm surge produced by the
hurricane's right-front quadrant (containing the strongest winds)
was forecast to be 28 feet (8.5 m), emergency management
officials in New Orleans feared that the storm surge could go over
the tops of levees protecting the city, causing major flooding. This
risk of devastation was well known; previous studies by FEMA and the
Army Corps of Engineers had warned that a direct hurricane strike on
New Orleans could lead to massive flooding, which would lead to
thousands of drowning deaths, as well as many more suffering from
disease and dehydration as the flood waters slowly receded from the city.

At a news
conference 10 a.m. on August 28, shortly after Katrina was upgraded
to a Category
5 storm, New Orleans mayor C. Ray
Nagin, calling Katrina "a storm that most of us have long
feared", ordered
the first ever mandatory evacuation of the city.
With roughly one-quarter of the city's residents without access to
cars and 23.7% of families living below the poverty line, they lacked
transportation or the means to pay for it. Many others who had
transportation chose to stay with some rationalizing that since they
had been through prior hurricanes okay, that they expected a similar
outcome (this same thought process occurred in Mississippi where
citizens there had survived Hurricane Camille and assumed they could
to the same for Katrina). Their decision to stay would further
compound the situation. It is not yet known how many of those trapped
in New Orleans were 1) poor or 2) able-bodied (i.e. had a car) yet
chose to stay. Future analysis of Motor Vehicle Registration, Census
and Social Security Information, and Death Certificates may help to
clarify these numbers. Nagin established several "refuges of
last resort" for citizens who could not leave the city,
including the massive Louisiana Superdome, which housed over 9,000
people along with 550 National Guard troops when Katrina came ashore.
A National Guard official said on Thursday, September 1 that as many
as 60,000 people had gathered at the Superdome for evacuation, having
remained there in increasingly difficult circumstances.

Mandatory
evacuations were also ordered for Assumption, Jefferson (Kenner,
Metairie, as well as Grand Isle and other low lying areas), Lafourche
(outside the floodgates), Plaquemines, St. Charles and St. James
parishes and parts of Tangipahoa and Terrebonne parishes in Louisiana.

In
Alabama, evacuations were ordered for parts of Mobile and Baldwin
counties (including Gulf Shores). In Mississippi, evacuations were
ordered for parts of Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties.

Transportation
and infrastructure

Hurricane
Katrina on August 28.

On
Sunday, August 28, Canadian National Railway (CN) suspended all rail
traffic on its lines south of McComb, Mississippi (lines owned by
its subsidiary Illinois Central Railroad that extend into New
Orleans, Louisiana), in anticipation of damage from the
hurricane. To help ease the resumption of services after the storm
passes, CN also issued an embargo with the Association of American
Railroads against all deliveries to points south of Osyka,
Mississippi. CSX Transportation also suspended service south of
Montgomery, Alabama until further notice. The CSX (former Louisville
and Nashville Railroad) main line from Mobile to New Orleans is
believed to have suffered extensive damage, especially in coastal
Mississippi, but repair crews were not able to reach most parts of
the line as of August 30.

Amtrak,
America's rail passenger carrier, announced that the southbound City
of New Orleans passenger trains from Chicago, Illinois, on August 29
and through September 3 will terminate in Memphis, Tennessee, rather
than their usual destination of New Orleans; the corresponding
northbound trains will also originate in Memphis. The southbound
Crescent from New York, New York, for the same period will terminate
in Atlanta, Georgia, with the corresponding northbound trains
originating in Atlanta as well. Amtrak's westbound Sunset Limited
will originate in San Antonio, Texas, rather than its normal origin
point of Orlando, Florida. Amtrak announced that no alternate
transportation options will be made available into or out of the
affected area during this time.

The
Waterford nuclear power plant was shut down on Sunday, August 28,
before Katrina's arrival.

The Waterford Nuclear
Generating Station, also known as Waterford 3, is a nuclear power
plant located on a 3,000-acre (12-km²) site near Taft,
Louisiana, in St. Charles Parish.

This plant has one Combustion
Engineering two-loop pressurized water reactor. The plant produces
1075 megawatts of electricity and has a dry ambient pressure
containment building.

Waterford is operated by
Entergy Nuclear and is owned by Entergy Louisiana, Inc.

On August 28, 2005, Waterford
shut down due to Hurricane Katrina approaching and declared an
unusual event.

Impact

On August 29, Katrina's storm
surge caused several breaches in levees around New Orleans. Most of
the city was subsequently flooded, as the breached drainage and
navigation canals allowed water to flow from the lake into low areas
of the city and Saint Bernard Parish. Storm surge also devastated the
coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, making Katrina the most
destructive and costliest natural disaster in the history of the
United States, and the deadliest hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee
Hurricane. The total damage from Katrina is estimated at $81.2
billion (2005 U.S. dollars), nearly double the cost of the
previously most expensive storm, Hurricane Andrew, when adjusted for inflation.

As of May
19, 2006, the confirmed death toll (total of direct and indirect
deaths) stood at 1,836, mainly from Louisiana (1,577) and Mississippi
(238).However, 705 people remain categorized as missing in Louisiana,
so this number is not final even a year after the storm. Many of the
deaths are indirect, but it is almost impossible to determine the
exact cause of some of the fatalities.

Federal
disaster declarations covered 90,000 square miles (233,000 km²)
of the United States, an area almost as large as the United Kingdom.
The hurricane left an estimated three million people without
electricity. On September 3, 2005, Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff described the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as
"probably the worst catastrophe, or set of catastrophes,"
in the country's history, referring to the hurricane itself plus the
flooding of New Orleans.

South
Florida and Cuba

Hurricane
Katrina first made landfall on August 25, 2005 in South Florida where
it hit as a Category 1 hurricane, with 80 mph (130 km/h)
winds. Rainfall was heavy in places and exceeded 14 inches (350 mm)
in Homestead, Florida, and a storm surge of 35 feet was
measured in parts of Monroe County. More than 1 million customers
were left without electricity, and damage in Florida was estimated at
between 1 and 2 billion dollars, with most of the damage coming from
flooding and overturned trees. There were 11 fatalities reported in
Florida as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

Most of
the Florida Keys experienced tropical-storm force winds from Katrina
as the storm's center passed to the north, with hurricane force winds
reported in the Dry Tortugas. Rainfall was also high in the islands,
with 10 inches (250 mm) falling on Key West. On August 26, a
strong F1 tornado formed from an outer rain band of Katrina and
struck Marathon. The tornado damaged a hangar at the airport there
and caused an estimated 5 million dollars in damage.

Although
Hurricane Katrina stayed well to the north of Cuba, on August 29 it
brought tropical-storm force winds and rainfall of over 8 inches (200
mm) to western regions of the island. Telephone and power lines
were damaged and around 8,000 people were evacuated in the Pinar del
Río Province. According to Cuban television reports the
coastal city of Surgidero de Batabano was 90% underwater

Louisiana

On August
29 Hurricane Katrina made landfall near Buras, Louisiana with 125 mph (205
km/h) winds, as a strong Category 3 storm. However, as it had
only just weakened from Category 4 strength and the radius of maximum
winds was large, it is possible that sustained winds of Category 4
strength briefly impacted extreme southeastern Louisiana. Although
the storm surge to the east of the path of the eye in Mississippi was
higher, a very significant surge affected the Louisiana coast. The
height of the surge is uncertain because of a lack of data, although
a tide gauge in Plaquemines Parish indicated a storm tide in excess
of 14 feet (4.3 m) and a 12 foot (3 m) storm surge was
recorded in Grand Isle.

Hurricane
Katrina also brought heavy rain to Louisiana, with 8-10 inches
(200-250 mm) falling on a wide swath of the eastern part of the
state. In the area around Slidell, the rainfall was even higher, and
the highest rainfall recorded in the state was approximately 15
inches (380 mm). As a result of the rainfall and storm surge the
level of Lake Pontchartrain rose and caused significant flooding
along its northeastern shore, affecting communities from Slidell to
Mandeville. Several bridges were destroyed, including the I-10 Twin
Span Bridge connecting Slidell to New Orleans. Almost 900,000 people
in Louisiana lost power as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

In
hard-hit St. Bernard Parish, which was entirely flooded by Katrina,
the search for the missing was slow. According to an interview in the
New Orleans Times-Picayune, the coroner was still trying to get a
list of missing from the Red Cross in November 2005. While there were
some victims on this list whose bodies were found in their homes, the
vast majority were tracked down through word-of-mouth and credit card
records. As of December 2005, the official missing list in the Parish
stood at 47.

Local
effects and aftermath

Hurricane Katrina effects
by region

Effect of Hurricane
Katrina on New Orleans

Areas
affected include southern Florida, Louisiana (especially the Greater
New Orleans area), Mississippi, Alabama, the western Florida
Panhandle, western and north Georgia were affected by tornadoes, the
Tennessee Valley and Ohio Valley regions, the eastern Great Lakes
region and the length of the western Appalachians. Over 300 deaths
have been reported in seven states, a number which is expected to
rise as casualty reports come in from areas currently inaccessible.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin estimates hundreds, and as many as
thousands, are feared dead. Two levees in New Orleans gave way, and
eighty percent of the city is now under water, which in some places
is 20 to 25 feet (7 or 8 meters) deep.

Those
most affected, stranded or dead are predominantly poor people, the
sick and the elderly as those groups didn't have the means or ability
to evacuate before the storm hit.

Aside from the lack of water,
food, shelter, and sanitation facilities, there is growing concern
that the prolonged flooding will lead to an outbreak of health
problems for those who remain in hurricane-affected areas. In
addition to dehydration and food poisoning, there is also a potential
for West Nile virus, St. Louis Encephalitis, tuberculosis, hepatitis
A, cholera and typhoid fever, all related to the growing
contamination of food and drinking water supplies in the area. The
longer these people are stranded in the searing heat the more will
perish from the aforementioned causes. President Bush has declared a
public health emergency for the entire Gulf Coast and Secretary of
Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt announced that the DHHS will
be setting up a network of 40 medical shelters to speed the relief
efforts. There is concern the chemical plants and refineries in the
area could have released their contents into the flood waters. People
who suffer from allergies or lung disorders, such as asthma, will
have health complications due to toxic mold and airborne irritants.
In Gulfport, Mississippi, several hundred tons of chicken and
uncooked shrimp were washed out of their containers at the nearby
harbor and could have contaminated the water table.

Price hiking

Hundreds of reports have
poured into Louisiana (and other) authorities regarding "price
gouging" on products like gasoline and bottled water, or of
hotels dishonoring reservations in favor of accepting larger offers
for rooms by desperate travelers. The three major U.S. TV networks'
nightly news programs have shown images of a BP gas station selling
gasoline for over $6.00 per US gallon ($1.59/L). Another BP station
in Stockbridge, Georgia, south of Atlanta, was selling gas at $5.87
per US gallon ($1.55/L) within a day after Katrina hit. Gas prices in
the U.S. just prior to Katrina were in the range of $2.50 per US
gallon ($0.66/L). During this time the average price of gas per
gallon has reached a new all time high.

Effects
outside the affected region

The
effects of Hurricane Katrina were catastrophic and widespread. It was
one of the deadliest natural disasters in U.S. history. The storm was
large and had an effect on several different areas of the North America.

Economic
effects

The
economic effects of Hurricane Katrina, which hit Louisiana and
Mississippi in late August 2005, were far-reaching. As of April,
2006, the Bush Administration has sought $10.5 Billion for repairs
and reconstruction in the region, making it the costliest natural
disaster in US history. And this does not account for damage to the
economy caused by potential interruption of the oil supply and
exports of commodities such as grain. Also, before the hurricane, the
region supported approximately one million non-farm jobs, with
600,000 of them in New Orleans. As such, the total economic impact to
Louisiana and Mississippi may exceed $150 Billion

Individual
effects

Hundreds
of thousands of residents of southern Louisiana and Mississippi,
including nearly everyone who lived in New Orleans, were left
unemployed. No paychecks were being cashed and no money was being
spent, and therefore no taxes were being collected by local
governments. The lack of revenue will limit the resources of the
affected communities and states for years to come. Before the storm,
the region was already one of the poorest in America with one of the
highest unemployment rates. Furthermore, Jim Sensenbrenner,
Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has refused to
allow victims of the hurricane to take advantage of any exception to
the recent Bankruptcy Reform, a recent bill passed with widespread
support of the banking industry that aims to curb abuse of bankruptcy
protection by repeat filers and those who are able to repay debts
reasonably. "If someone in Katrina is down and out, and has no
possibility of being able to repay 40% or more of their debts, then
the new bankruptcy law doesn't apply," Sensenbrenner said.

There was
also some concern when, on September 8, 2005, President Bush
temporarily suspended the Davis-Bacon Act in the affected areas,
which allowed for contractors working on Federal construction
projects to be paid less than the prevailing local wage. The concerns
over these actions were primarily that allowing the government to pay
less than the prevailing wage would contribute to increased poverty
in the region, which already ranked among the lowest in the nation in
terms of household income. The act was later reinstated on October
26, 2005, amid political pressure from both Democrats and Republicans
in Congress.

Industrial
and commercial effects

Oil production

In
the United States gasoline prices reached an all-time high during the
first week of September 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The average retail price was nearly $3.04 per gallon.The previous
high was $2.38 per gallon in March 1981, which would be $3.20 per
gallon after adjustment for inflation.

The storm
interrupted oil production, importation, and refining in the Gulf
area, thus having a major effect on fuel prices. Before the storm,
one-tenth of all the crude oil consumed in the United States and
almost half of the gasoline produced in the country came from
refineries in the states along the Gulf's shores. An additional 24%
of the natural gas supply is extracted or imported in the region.
Furthermore, the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve is also stored
in this region.

Power
outages in the wake of Katrina have also caused distribution problems
for oil and natural gas. Pipelines which move petroleum products from
places like Houston to areas of the east coast have had their flows
interrupted because power outages shut down the pumps that kept
materials flowing. Dick Cheney personally called the manager of the
Southern Pines Electric Power Association on the night of August 30
and again the next morning and ordered him to divert power crews to
substations in nearby Collins that were essential to the operation of
the Colonial Pipeline, which carries gasoline and diesel fuel from
Texas to the Northeast.

At least
twenty offshore oil platforms were missing, sunk, or had gone adrift,
according to the United States Coast Guard. One oil rig, in dock for
repairs before the storm, broke loose and hit the Cochrane/Africatown
USA road bridge over the Mobile River in Mobile, Alabama. Two others
went adrift in the Gulf of Mexico, but they were recovered. One
platform, originally located 12 mi (20 km) off the Louisiana coast,
has washed up onshore at Dauphin Island, Alabama. Shell Oil Company's
MARS platform, producing around 147,000 barrels (23,000 m³) per
day, was also severely damaged.

At 7:00
AM CDT on August 29, Ted Falgout, Port Director of Port Fourchon,
Louisiana, a key oil and gas hub 60 mi (100 km) south of New Orleans
on the Gulf of Mexico, reported that the port had taken a direct hit
from the hurricane. The port services approximately 16% of the
nations supply of crude oil and natural gas.According
to Falgout, Hurricane Katrina, "will impact oil and gas
infrastructure, not just short term but long term as well. The impact
of the storm  the Gulf is shut down; all of the area of the
storm is shut down; a half billion dollars a day of oil and gas is unavailable."

The
Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which imports 11% of all U.S. oil
consumption, closed on August 27, and Shell reported a reduction in
production of 420,000 barrels per day (770 L/s). The port was
undamaged by the storm and resumed operation within hours of getting
power back.

Due to
fears that the production of oil in the United States will be cut by
up to one-third of normal capacity, the price of oil fluctuated
greatly. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures reached a record
high of over $70 per barrel ($0.44/L). There were many reports to
Louisiana authorities and elsewhere of price gouging, not only for
gasoline, but also for other needed items such as bottled water. In
some areas, gasoline was being sold for as much as $6 per gallon
($1.59 per liter). One BP station in Stockbridge, Georgia, south of
Atlanta, was selling gas at $5.87 per gallon ($1.55 per liter) less
than a day after Katrina hit. Just before the storm, average fuel
prices were approximately $2.50 per US gallon ($0.66/L).
International oil prices also rose. In the United Kingdom, pump
prices for unleaded petrol (gas) hit £1 per litre ($7 per U.S.
gallon) for the first time in a significant number of places
(averaging about 95p), a rise of about 3% from pre-Katrina prices.
Wholesale prices were up 5% by September 6.

Long
lines developed at some gas stations throughout the U.S. as customers
rushed to buy gasoline, anticipating price increases in the wake of
the storm. Emphasizing the seriousness of the situation and in light
of similar incidents in his own state, Governor Mike Easley of North
Carolina has issued a statement asking all North Carolinians to
conserve gas, limit fuel consumption and non-essential road trips,
and for state employees to car pool. On the day of the Governor's
announcement, many gas stations around the state ran out of gas and
lines were formed at others.

By 12:00
PM CDT on August 31, eight Gulf of Mexico refineries remained shut
down and one was operating at reduced capacity. Evaluation of five of
the eight refineries was delayed due to limited access. Aside from
the problems involved in restarting the refineries (which is a
lengthy process) there were additional major issues with worker
housing, since a large proportion of homes were destroyed by the hurricane.

The
Environmental Protection Agency moved to reduce prices by temporarily
lifting fuel standards in America until September 15. Some crude oil
was also released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as well, to
combat prices as major economic consequences were predicted if prices
remained high for a long period of time  leading consumer
spending to drop and causing many foreign economies, especially in
Asia, to suffer. President Bush also temporarily waived the Jones
Act, allowing foreign oil companies to ship oil between ports of the
United States.

By
September 7, Gulf oil production had returned to 42% of normal. Of 10
refineries that were shut down by Katrina, four were expected to be
back at full capacity within a week, however another four could be
out of commission for months.

Gambling
and entertainment

Katrina
forced many casinos along the Mississippi Gulf Coast to close and
evacuate. The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino was scheduled to open the
first week of September, but has remained closed indefinitely due to
structural damage. The Beau Rivage was severely damaged by water that
reached the third floor, but seems to have suffered the least damage
of the beachfront casinos. Grand Casino Biloxi had its mammoth gaming
barge blown across U.S. 90. Treasure Bay's pirate ship was washed
ashore. The President Casino Biloxi was washed across U.S. 90 and
landed on top of a Holiday Inn, nearly a mile (2 km) from the
casino's berth.

In
Gulfport, the western Grand Casino Gulfport barge, containing Kid's
Quest, washed across U.S. 90 and was left blocking the highway. The
Copa Casino barge was pushed onto land next to the Grand Casino
Gulfport's parking garage. Casino Magic and Isle of Capri in Biloxi
both suffered heavy damage to their gaming barges, likely beyond
repair. Before the storm, at least 14,000 people were employed at
Gulf Coast casinos.

Harrah's
New Orleans closed shortly before the storm and sustained storm
damage. The building was also used by first responders as a base of
operations in the days following the storm. The casino reopened on
February 17, 2006, just in time for Mardi Gras,[11] and the Beau
Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, reopened on August
29, 2006, on the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's
landfall. The Grand Casino Biloxi is undergoing extensive renovation,
and is expected to reopen during the summer of 2006. The Grand Casino
Gulfport was destroyed as portions of the structure collapsed across
Highway 90 and was demolished.

Mississippi
will lose approximately $500,000 in tax revenue for each day that
the Biloxi-area riverboat casinos are closed, and about $140,000 per
day for the South River region casinos. As a comparison, in 2004,
Mississippi earned $2.7 billion in casino revenues, third behind
Nevada and New Jersey ($10.3 billion and $4.8 billion, respectively).

Agriculture
and forestry

According
to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the national
impact of Hurricane Katrina on Gulf Coast crops was minimal, with
most of the damage borne by minor producers of major crops (corn,
soybeans, and cotton).[15]. The main impact of the storm on
agriculture is likely to involve ocean shipping and exports. In 2004,
22% of U.S. wheat exports, 71% of corn exports, and 65% of soybean
exports passed through Gulf ports. However, major grain shipping
usually does not occur until later in the fall, when ports would
again be operational.

In
addition to the 48 Mississippi counties covered by the Presidential
primary natural disaster designation, the USDA declared an additional
31 counties as primary agricultural disaster areas. This made farmers
and other agricultural producers eligible for low interest emergency
loans to cover losses. The remaining four Mississippi counties were
classified as, "contiguous" and were also eligible for assistance.

Gulfport,
Mississippi serves as a major ocean shipping port for the southern
United States, which was found to be inoperable for as much as one
year. Chiquita, Dole, Crowley, Gearbulk, P&O, and others had
significant operations in Gulfport. On a short-term basis these
companies have relocated necessary operations to unaffected ports.

Forestry
constitutes a major industry in southern Mississippi, accounting for
10% of all jobs in the state. According to the Mississippi Forestry
Commission, Hurricane Katrina caused significant damage to 1.3
million acres (5,300 km²) of forestland in the state. The
greatest damage occurred from the coastal counties northward to
Laurel, with heavy damage to pine forests in Hancock, Harrison, and
Pearl River counties.

An
estimated 14.6 million cords (52,900,000 m³) of paperwood and
3.2 billion board feet (7,600,000 m³) of sawtimber were
destroyed. The estimated economic impact of this loss was $1.3
billion. Additionally, there was an estimated $1.1 billion in damage
to urban trees in 181 Mississippi communities.

Utilities

The local
electric utility Entergy Corporation was impacted severely, and
Entergy New Orleans filed for bankruptcy protection on September 23,
2005. The company cited lower revenue and storm restoration costs as
the primary cause. Parent company Entergy Corporation promptly
arranged $100 Million in financing.

Space
Shuttle program

The
hurricane has passed over the Michoud Assembly Facility and
materially interrupted the production of external tanks for the Space
Shuttle, leading to a further interruption of the shuttle flights.
Evan McCollum, a Lockheed Martin Space Systems spokesman in Denver
has reported that "there is water leakage and potential water
damage in the buildings, but there's no way to tell how much at this point".

The
Michoud Assembly Facility will remain closed until at least September
6, but it might take several weeks to restore power, communications
and other utilities. It's also uncertain how soon workers will be
able to return. Plans to ship three tanks -- including the one for
NASA's next mission -- back to Michoud for retrofitting are on
indefinite hold. The next Shuttle flight, STS-121, could be postponed
to May or later during the second half of 2006.

Disaster
relief response

The
disaster recovery response to Katrina began before the storm, with
Federal Emergency Management Agency preparations that ranged from
logistical supply deployments to a mortuary team with refrigerated
trucks. More than 11,000 Army and Air National Guardsmen and 7,200
active-duty troops are currently stationed in the Gulf Coast region
to assist with hurricane relief operations. An additional 10,000 USNG
troops are currently in the process of being called up and are
expected to join the relief efforts shortly.

The
military relief effort, known as Joint Task Force Katrina, is being
commanded by Lieutenant General Russel Honoré of the US First Army.

At
President Bush's urging, the U.S. Senate approved a bill authorizing
$10.5 billion in aid for victims on September 1, 2005. The U.S. House
of Representatives voted and approved on the measure Friday,
September 2, 2005 without any debate; Bush signed it into law an hour
later. This is said to be only the initial aid package.

Over 50
countries have pledged money or other assistance to recovery from the
hurricane including inter alia Cuba and Venezuela despite differences
with Washington; Sri Lanka which is still recovering from the
Tsunami; Russia whose initial offer to send a relief plane and
helicopter was declined by the U.S. State Department; and Dominica
one of the smallest countries in the world by any measure.

In
addition to asking for federal funds, President Bush has enlisted the
help of former presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush to raise
additional voluntary contributions, much as they did after the 2004
Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

Canada is
sending three warships and one coast guard vessel to the US Gulf
Coast to assist in the relief and reconstruction effort.

On
September 3, Governor Blanco hired James Lee Witt, the well-regarded
FEMA director during the Clinton Administration, to oversee recovery
efforts in Louisiana.

Political
effects

Evacuation
issues

Many
critics have noted that while the local government gave a mandatory
evacuation order on August 28, before the storm hit, they did not
make provisions to evacuate the large numbers of homeless, low-income
people, the elderly, the infirm or car-less households. Evacuation
was mainly left up to individual citizens to find their own way out
of the city. Officials knew that many residents of New Orleans lack
cars. A 2000 census revealed that 27% of New Orleans households,
amounting to approximately 120,000 people, were without
privately-owned transportation. Officials also did not take into
account the fact that New Orleans has one of the highest poverty
rates in the United States at about 38%. These factors prevented many
people from being able to evacuate on their own. Consequentially most
of those stranded in the city are the poor, the elderly, and the sick.

Race issues

The
question of demographics has been raised in the media as news media
video and photographs showed primarily black citizens stranded in New
Orleans. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Black Leadership
Forum, National Conference of State Legislators, National Urban
League and the NAACP held a news conference expressing anger and
charging that the response was slow because those most affected are
poor and black.

This has
led to city officials being accused of racism, with critics saying
they didn't bother to formulate an evacuation plan for those who
cannot afford private transportation. These groups were also very
displeased that the citizens in New Orleans were being referred to as "refugees".

On
September 2, while presenting on the NBC Concert for Hurricane
Relief, rapper Kanye West strayed from his script and addressed what
he perceived as the racism of both the government and of the media,
finally stating: "George Bush doesn't care about black
people." and called for the media to stop labelling African-Americans
as the only ones responsible for the chaos in New Orleans. (West's
comments were heard in the entirety in the eastern U.S., where
the telecast was shown live; NBC later removed a portion of the
comments on the tape-delayed telecast shown in the west. NBC also
issued a denouncement of the comments.) In addition, the media has
been saturated with apocalyptic-type messages in reference to the
hurricane which, in itself, can contribute to the victim's sense of
trauma, isolation, and abandonment.

Conservative
commentator Lou Dobbs of CNN stated, "We should put in context,
it seems to me also, that the city of New Orleans is 70% black, its
mayor is black, its principal power structure is black, and if there
is a failure to the black Americans, who live in poverty and in the
city of New Orleans, those officials have to bear much of the responsibility."

The U.S.
Census Bureau estimates the 2004 New Orleans population to be 20.0%
white and 67.9% black.

Government
response issues

Criticism
of local and national government response is widespread in the media,
as reports continued to show hunger, deaths and lack of aid.

About
6,200 Army and Air National Guard troops were on duty in Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama and Florida when Katrina struck,

and by
Wednesday the 31st, that number climbed to 11,000 Army and Air
National Guard members from around the nation and 7,200 active-duty
troops, mostly Navy. 10,000 more National Guard troops are expected
to join the effort within the following 48 hours.

However
more than two and a half days after the hurricane struck, police,
health care and other emergency workers voice concerns, in the media,
about the absence of National Guard troops in the city for search and
rescue missions and to control looting. It
was not until Friday that the military arrived in New Orleans in
sufficient numbers to ease the suffering of the storm survivors.

Media
reports have also criticized the fact that National Guard units are
short staffed in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama because they are
currently on a tour of duty in Iraq, including 3,000 members of the
Louisiana National Guard's 256th Brigade.

The
failure to immediately evacuate or re-supply New Orleans area
hospitals, and the lack of a visible FEMA presence in the city and
surrounding area as raised concerns in the press.

The 2004
hurricane season was the worst in decades. In spite of that, the
federal government came back in the spring of 2005 with the steepest
reduction in hurricane and flood-control funding for New Orleans in
history. Because of the proposed cuts, the Corps office there imposed
a hiring freeze. Officials said that money targeted for the SELA
project was reduced to $10.4 million, down from $36.5 million.

The money
would have gone into funding studies about the feasibility of
upgrading the current levees to withstand Category
4
and Category
5
Hurricanes instead of just Category
3.

Environmental
issues

Some
believe a factor in the increased damages has been the destruction of
wetlands in the affected regions, which are considered to have a
mitigating effect on hurricane damage, acting as a sponge to slow floodwaters.

Sewage,
decomposing bodies, and toxic chemicals from the city's many
factories have mixed into the floodwaters creating a potentially
toxic cesspool throughout New Orleans. Experts fear it will pose a
serious threat to residents now and into the future.

OIL MARKETS:

Crude oil
prices dropped to a little below $70 a barrel after U.S. government
decided to make petroleum available from strategic reserve.

Oil and
gas companies found some Gulf of Mexico oil rigs as far as 17 miles
from their original locations.

August
31, 2005

ALABAMA:

Deaths: 2

Alabama
suffered moderate to heavy damage caused by wind and flooding by the
storm. Mobile Bay spilled into downtown Mobile, Alabama to the depth
of 2-3 feet (0.6-1 meter). A flotel (floating habitat used by oil
platform crews) broke loose of its moorings and slammed into the
Cochrane Bridge. Damage was found not to be critical, but only one
lane (out of two) in each direction was reopened immediately after
the storm. There was cause for concern because the bridge, in
conjunction with underwater tunnels, is a part of the I-10 Hazardous
Materials route across the Mobile River. The causeway crossing the
Mobile Delta (US Highway 90/98) was also closed before the storm and
was completely submerged during the hurricane.

Damage
was quite heavy in coastal Alabama (comparable to Hurricane Ivan
in 2004), including significant structural damage to buildings.
Bayou La Batre, a fishing town, sustained significant damage to its
infrastructure and fishing fleet. It was the focal point of public
attention given to Alabama in the aftermath of the storm. On Sunday,
September 4, 2005, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited a
community center in Bayou La Batre and surveyed storm damage with
Alabama Governor Bob Riley. Some damage was reported in inland
Alabama, as well, particularly related to fallen trees. An oil
platform became also became grounded near Dauphin Island.

More than
584,000 people were left without power in Alabama immediately after
the storm. Tornadoes were also reported near Brewton.

Flooding
reached 11 feet in Mobile, matching record set in 1917, according to
National Weather Service. Water up to roofs of cars in downtown
Mobile and bayou communities. Piers ransacked and grand homes flooded
along Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay.

ARKANSAS

Arkansas
avoided damage from Katrina, as the storm passed to the east.

FLORIDA:

Deaths: 14

Katrina's
first landfall was in South florida, where it hit as a Category 1
hurricane. The damage was fairly minimal, and 11 fatalities were
reported. More than 1 million customers were left without
electricity, and damage in Florida was estimated at between $1 and $2 Billion
(with most of the damage coming from flooding and overturned trees).

38,000
customers without power in the Panhandle, hit by eastern edge of
storm Monday. In South Florida, about 70,000 customers still without
power Wednesday.

Many
people living in the area were unaware of when Katrina strengthened
from a tropical storm to a hurricane in one day and struck southern
Florida near the Miami-DadeBroward county line. The hurricane
struck between the cities of Aventura, in Miami-Dade County, and
Hallandale, in Broward County, on August 25, 2005. However, National
Hurricane Center (NHC) forecasts had correctly predicted that Katrina
would intensify to hurricane strength before landfall, and hurricane
watches and warnings were issued 31.5 hours and 19.5 hours before
landfall, respectively  only slightly less than the target
thresholds of 36 and 24 hours.

Florida
Governor Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency on August 24 in
advance of Katrina's landfall in Florida. Shelters were opened and
schools closed in several counties in the southern part of the state.
A number of evacuation orders were also issued, mostly voluntary,
although a mandatory evacuation was ordered for at-risk housing in
Martin County.

Two
traffic fatalities related to Katrina were also reported on the
Florida Panhandle in Walton County, and moderate to locally heavy
damage was reported in the western part of the Panhandle (on the
outer edge of Katrina), which had already been hit hard by
Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and Hurricane Dennis in July, 2005

Western
Georgia has been hit with bands of Hurricane Katrina resulting in
heavy rains, damaging winds and several reports of tornadoes in Polk,
Heard, and Carroll counties. In Polk County, three homes were
reported damaged by a tornado. A fatal tornado in Carroll County
resulted in the death of one person in a vehicle collision and caused
damage to as many as 30 homes, and one additional fatality was reported.

Severe
weather has also been reported in northeastern Georgia, including
tornadoes in White and Hall counties. In White County, a tornado
struck the tourist town of Helen, ripping the top floor from an
Econolodge hotel and damaging businesses at a nearby outlet mall.
Thirty people were displaced by the storm, but no injuries were
reported. In Hall County, several homes were reported damaged by a
possible tornado in Lula.[13] A tornado in a feeder band moved
through Decatur County to the west of Bainbridge in southwestern
Georgia during the evening of August 29.

On August
31, the price of gasoline shot up dramatically in and around the
Atlanta metropolitan area, reaching as high as $6 per gallon. This
was mainly due to consumer panic about lack of gasoline caused by
Hurricane Katrina, which disrupted oil pumps in the Gulf of Mexico.

HANCOCK
COUNTY

The death
toll was estimated at about 50.

Hancock
County was the scene of the final landfall of the eye of Hurricane
Katrina, and its communities and infrastructure suffered some of the
most intense damage inflicted by that storm. Damage was in many
communities, including Waveland, Bay St. Louis, Pearlington, and
Clermont Harbor.

Katrina
practically obliterated Waveland, and state officials said that it
took a harder hit from the wind and water than any other town along
the coast. The storm dragged away almost every structure within one
half mile of the beach, leaving driveways and walkways that went to nowhere.

In Bay
St. Louis, Katrina destroyed many buildings, including the first
floor and dormitories of Saint Stanislaus College and the Bay St.
Louis Public Library

HARRISON
COUNTY

Harrison
County was hit particularly hard by the hurricane as well as the
storm surge. Its two coastal cities, Biloxi and Gulfport suffered
severe damages and many casualties were reported. By September 1, 126
people were already confirmed dead.

Widespread
damage was reported in the city of Biloxi as several of the city's
attractions were destroyed. Many restaurants have been destroyed and
several casino barges were pulled out of the water and onto land.
Residents that recalled Hurricane Camille observed that Katrina was,
"much worse," with a storm surge reportedly reaching
further inland. Katrina's wind estimates were lighter than Camille's,
and the central air pressure was slightly higher, but Camille was
also a much smaller storm so the greater impact of the storm surge
may be due to the size.

The
Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge was totally destroyed, and US 90 had
heavy debris and severe damage to the roadbed.

Keesler
Air Force Base in Biloxi was also damaged extensively.

In Pass
Christian, the destruction was almost complete.

JEFFERSON
PARISH

The
breach on the 17th Street Canal levee caused mostly insevere street
flooding within Jefferson Parish. But some lower lying areas did
receive significant water damage.

By one
week after the storm, residents were allowed to return to their homes
to retrieve essentials, provided that they could present
identification proving that they lived in the parish. They were only
allowed in to retrieve essential items, and were then required to
leave the parish for another month.

The
Sheriff of Jefferson Parish reported that he expects his district to
remain uninhabitable for at least one week and that residents should
not return to the area. Incidents of looting
have been reported throughout affected areas of Louisiana, most
notably in New Orleans. Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco ordered
all roadways into the state closed.

KENTUCKY:

Deaths: 1

Western
Kentucky was already suffering flooding from storms that had passed
through during the weekend prior to Katrina's arrival. Part of
Christian County High School, located just outside Hopkinsville,
collapsed during the weekend. Significant flooding has been reported
in the Hopkinsville area, and many homes were flooded. One person was
also killed in flood waters during Katrina that had already been high
from the previous storm.

Governor
Ernie Fletcher, declared Christian, Todd and Trigg counties disaster
areas due to flooding, and declared a statewide state of emergency

LOUISIANA:

Deaths: 1,464

Hurricane
Katrina made its second landfall on August 29, 2005, as a Category 3
hurricane with sustained winds of 125 mph (205 km/h) near
Buras-Triumph, Louisiana. As such, the primary areas that were
affected were southeastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi,
including the cities of New Orleans, Louisiana, and the parishes of
Jefferson, Terrebonne, Plaquemines, Lafourche, and St. Bernard.

According
to officials nearly one million people were temporarily without
electricity in Louisiana for several weeks. On September 1, 2005,
800,000 homes were without electricity. Numerous roadways were
flooded or damaged and many evacuations conducted by boat and helicopter.

Approximately
18,000 National Guardsmen were dispatched to New Orleans as part of
the disaster relief effort. The United States Navy also announced
that four amphibious ships would be sent from Norfolk, Virginia
within a few days to assist the relief efforts.

By July
1, 2006, when new population estimates were calculated by the U.S.
Census Bureau, the population of the state of Louisiana declined by
219,563, or 4.87%.Relief
crews put aside the counting of bodies to concentrate on rescuing the
living, many trapped on rooftops and in attics.

Estimated
80 percent of New Orleans under water, up to 20 feet deep in places.
Water still rising as engineers struggle to plug two breached levees
along Lake Pontchartrain with giant sandbags.

Lt. Gov.
Mitch Landrieu said 3,000 people rescued by boat and air.

Sections
of Interstate 10, only major freeway leading into New Orleans from
the east, destroyed.

The Gulf
Coast of Mississippi suffered massive damage from the impact of
Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, leaving 236 people dead, 67
missing, and an estimated $125 Billion in damages. Since Katrina made
its third and final landfall on the Louisiana/Mississippi state line,
the storm's powerful northeastern quadrant made hammered areas of
Mississippi, as well as Alabama, causing extensive wind and flood
damage. According to MSNBC, a 30 foot (9.1 meter) storm surge came
ashore wiping out 90% of the buildings along the Biloxi-Gulfport
coastline. The bridge between Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian was
also damaged by the storm.Major
bridges damaged in three coastal counties, including those linking
Biloxi with Ocean Springs and the connection to Bay St. Louis.

Hundreds
of waterfront homes, businesses, community landmarks and condominiums obliterated.

The two
counties most affected by the storm were Hancock County and Harrison
County. Mississippi Emergency Management Agency officials also
recorded deaths in Hinds, Warren, and Leake counties. About 800,000
people through the state experienced power outages, which is almost a
third of the population.

Casinos
built on barges along the coast damaged or destroyed, some floated
across beach onto land. Dozen casinos employed about 14,000 people,
generated $2.7 billion in annual revenue.

United
States Navy officials announced that two Arleigh Burke-class guided
missile destroyers that were under construction at Litton-Ingalls
Shipbuilding in Pascagoula had been damaged by the storm, as well as
the Amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island.

Quote:"It
is indescribable - blocks and blocks and blocks of no houses. Ninety
percent of the structures are gone. I saw Camille and the aftermath
in 1969 and this is worst than Camille."Gov.
Haley Barbour on NBC's "Today." Camille killed 143 and
destroyed 6,000 homes.

NEW ORLEANS

Although
Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city by August
29, 2005, many were unable to evacuate for a variety of reasons, such
as a lack of transportation. Approximately one million people had
fled the city and its surrounding suburbs by the evening of August
28, while about 20,000 to 25,000 others remained in the city lined up
to take shelter in the Louisiana Superdome, lining up for what
authorities warned would be an unpleasant day and a half at minimum.

By August
31, eighty percent (80%) of the city of New Orleans was flooded by
Hurricane Katrina, with some parts of the city under 20 feet (6.1
meters) of water. Four of the protective levees were breached. The
17th Street Canal levee was breached at Bellaire Drive and Spencer
Ave. Another breach occurred in a levee along the 17th Street Canal
at the Hammond Highway Bridge. The Industrial Canal levee was also
breached at Tennessee Street, and the London Avenue canal floodwall
was breached at 6100 Pratt Drive. Levee repair efforts were
undertaken, involving reinforcing the levees with 3,000 pound (1,400
kg) sandbags deployed by U.S. Army Chinook and Black Hawk
helicopters. The 17th Street Canal levee repair was completed by
September 5.

Many
refugees were trapped in flooded houses and rooftops waiting to be
rescued. The Superdome sustained significant damage, including two
sections of the roof that were compromised, and the dome's waterproof
membrane had essentially been peeled off. On August 30, Louisiana
governor Kathleen Blanco ordered the complete evacuation of the
remaining people that sought shelter in the Superdome. They were
transported to the Astrodome in Houston, Texas.

The only
route out of the city was west on the Crescent City Connection as the
I-10 (twin span) bridge travelling east towards Slidell, Louisiana
had collapsed. The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was also carrying
emergency traffic only.

Louis
Armstrong New Orleans International Airport was closed before the
storm and was flooded. By August 30, it was reopened to humanitarian
and rescue operations. Commercial cargo flights resumed on September
10, and commercial passenger service resumed on September 13.

NEW YORK

Western
New York had many reports of flooding, as well as damage caused by
fallen trees as a result of Katrina. At least 4,500 customers were
left without power in the Buffalo and Rochester areas.

Damage (primarily
to trees which knocked into some neighborhoods) and flooding was
also reported in the northern part of the state, near the Ontario
border. About 1,100 customers lost power in that area.

NORTH CAROLINA

North
Carolina avoided damage from the storm, but gas prices rose in
response to interrupted supply lines. Local hospitals received some
regional refugees.

OHIO:

Deaths: 2

In Ohio,
some flooding and power outages have been reported (including
about 2,500 in the easternmost part of the state alone), and
several areas have been evacuated throughout the state. One hospital
had to be evacuated as it lost power and its generator failed in
Dennison, but it was restored later in the day. Two deaths have been
blamed on the storm in Ohio, both indirect deaths from an accident
caused by Katrina's rains in the Monroeville area.

A force
F-0 tornado hit Warren County on August 30, causing minor damage in
Morrow and Salem Township. Three houses were damaged but no injuries
were reported.

ONTARIO

On
August 30 heavy rain and tropical storm force wind gusts were
reported in Southern Ontario as Katrina passed over the area before
dissipating into a remnant low in the east. Port Colborne and
Brockville appeared to receive the most rain, both with over 4 inches
(10.2 cm). Other regions in the province reported 1-2 inches (2.5-5
cm) of rain, except near the New York border where up to 3 inches
(7.6 cm) was reported. There were also some spotty reports of
flooding and damage due to fallen trees.

PENNSYLVANIA

In
Pennsylvania, at least two tornadoes spawned from Katrina's outer
bands and touched down in south-central part of the state south of
Harrisburg. Numerous trees were brought down and several roofs damaged

PLAQUEMINES
PARISH

There was
extensive flooding in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, and the southern
part of the parish was "reclaimed" by the Mississippi
River. The Belle Chasse Tunnel was flooded as well.

On August
29, the President of Plaquemines Parish, Benny Rousselle, issued a
statement to all residents not to return to the parish until further
notice. There were no public services available and all roads were
closed and impassable. He requested that only employees in Drainage,
Heavy Equipment, Public Right-of-Way Maintenance and Solid Waste
Departments return to the parish if possible

QUEBEC

On August
31, the storm system previously known as Katrina was partially
absorbed by a front and continued to produce heavy rainfall down the
St. Lawrence River Valley. Several villages in the northeastern part
of Quebec have been isolated due to multiple washouts. Sections of
roads were destroyed, effectively cutting these villages off via land
travel. Affected areas were supplied by boats normally supplying the
Magdalen Islands. The system crossed over uninhabited areas of
Labrador before completely dissipating.

ST.
BERNARD PARISH

St.
Bernard Parish, Louisiana, which lies to the East of New Orleans and
thus was closer to the path of the storm and the more exposed to the
storm surge from the Gulf of Mexico, was rapidly flooded. This was
apparently the result of extensive levee failure along the
Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, a 76 mile (122 km) long shipping
channel, which had been dredged to provide access for about 650 deep
draft ships per year. The levees were sized to hold back up to 17.5
feet (5.3 meters) of water. It is reported that up to 90% of these
levees were damaged and that the failures may be measured in miles.

The
Parish's two shelters at Chalmette High School and St. Bernard High
School suffered considerable damage with flooding. Chalmette High
lost much of its roof, and St. Bernard High had many broken windows.
There were estimates of 300-plus evacuees both sites.

By August
29, about 150 people were sighted on rooftops in areas that were
under approximately 8-10 feet or more of water. Among those on the
roofs were WDSU reporter Heath Allen and a St. Bernard resident on a
Government Complex rooftop.

Several
tragic deaths were reported at St. Rita's Nursing Home in the parish,
as 34 people died due to drowning. The owners of the nursing home
were arrested and charged with negligent homicide

TENNESSEE

At the
storm's peak, at least 80,000 customers were without power, primarily
in the Memphis and Nashville areas.

Some
damage has been reported, primarily due to fallen trees. However,
there have been no deaths or injuries reported in Tennessee as a
result of Katrina.

Tennessee
was also being used as a staging area for Gulf Coast evacuees,
particularly in and around Memphis.

TERREBONNE
PARISH

In
Terrebonne Parish, signs, trees, roofs and utility poles suffered the
brunt of Hurricane Katrina's fury when the storm roared across
Terrebonne and Lafourche.

TEXAS

Texas
avoided any direct damage from Hurricane Katrina, but the state took
in an estimated 220,000 people who have sought refuge from Louisiana
and has overwhelmed many local resources.

On August
31, the Harris County, Texas Department of Homeland Security and
Emergency Management and the State of Louisiana came to an agreement
to allow at least 25,000 evacuees from New Orleans, especially those
who were sheltered in the Louisiana Superdome, to move to the
Astrodome until they could return home. The evacuation began on
September 1. President George W. Bush announced on September 4 that
additional evacuees would be airlifted to other states.

The
Reliant Astrodome in Houston took on some of the 25,000 who had
initially sought shelter in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans,
but quickly reached capacity and by September 2, was unable to accept
additional hurricane refugees from the disaster. The Astrodome was
reopened a few hours later, after it was announced that all events
through December, 2005 would be cancelled so as to open the building
to an additional 11,000 evacuees. City officials then opened two
additional buildings adjacent to the Dome, the Arena, and the Center,
as well as the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston
to house additional guests.

When the
Houston shelters began to reach capacity on September 2, Governor
Rick Perry activated an emergency plan that made space for an
additional 25,000 each in San Antonio and the Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington
Metroplex, as well as smaller shelters in communities across Texas.
Beginning with a convoy of 50 buses (2,700 people) that
arrived at the Dallas Reunion Arena at 3:00 AM CST on September 3, a
wave of over 120,000 additional evacuees began pouring into Texas at
a rate, such that, as of September 5, it was estimated there are
roughly 139,000 evacuees in official shelters around the state. This
added to the estimated 90,000 that were already in hotels and homes.
Dallas quickly sought help from nearby cities to help accommodate
more evacuees. A staging area at the unused Big Town Mall in Mesquite
was opened, but was also overloaded quickly. Fort Worth and Arlington
have accepted some evacuees and towns from as far away as Bonham and
even Tulsa, Oklahoma have offered to help.

By the
afternoon of September 5, with a total estimated number of over
230,000 evacuees in Texas, Governor Perry ordered that buses begin
being diverted to other shelters outside the state resulting in
20,000 being sent to Oklahoma and 30,000 being sent to Arkansas. By
September 6, Texas had an estimated 250,000 evacuees and Governor
Perry was forced to declare a state of emergency in Texas and issued
an impassioned plea to other states to begin taking the 40,000-50,000
evacuees that were still in need of shelter.

Many
communities in Texas have opened up many of their services to
evacuees from Louisiana, offering speedier enrollment for children in
local school districts, access to the Texas food stamp program, as
well as health services for those being treated for diseases like
tuberculosis and HIV. Texas state parks are open free of charge to evacuees.

More than
300 students from Tulane University, including the school's football
team, were displaced to Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

The New
Orleans Saints NFL football team, who are also displaced from their
home facility at the Superdome, have moved to San Antonio. The
Saints' 2005 home games were split between the Alamodome in San
Antonio and Louisiana State University's Tiger Stadium in Baton
Rouge. On December 30, 2005, the team and the league announcing that
the club will play a split schedule again in 2006 between Baton Rouge
and New Orleans' Louisiana Superdome, with the first game at the
Superdome on September 24, 2006. However, it is undetermined where
the Saints will play in 2007 and beyond.

VIRGINIA

In
Virginia, a tornado related to Katrina's outer bands touched down in
Marshall, damaging at least 13 homes. In addition, electricity was
cut for about 4,000 customers. No deaths or injuries were reported.

WESTVIRGINIA

Significant
flooding has been reported in several communities in West Virginia,
including Sissonville, forcing some local evacuations

LOOTING
and VIOLENCE

Shortly
after the hurricane moved away on August 30, 2005, some residents of
New Orleans who remained in the city began looting stores, as did
some Mississippi residents in their local stores and casinos. Many
looters were in search of food and water that were not available to
them through any other means.

Reports
of carjacking, murders, thefts, and rapes in New Orleans flooded the
news. Several news media later determined that most reports were
based on rumors. Thousands of National Guard and federal troops were
mobilized and sent to Louisiana along with numbers of local law
enforcement agents from across the country who were temporarily
deputized by the state. "They have M16s and are locked and
loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they
will," Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said. Congressman Bill
Jefferson (D-LA) told ABC News: "There was shooting going on.
There was sniping going on. Over the first week of September, law and
order was gradually restored to the city." Several shootings
were between police and New Orleans residents, including the fatal
incident on Sept 4, 2005 at Danziger Bridge, where Police shot and
killed at least five people after gunmen opened fire on a group of
contractors traveling across a bridge on their way to make repairs.Fourteen
contractors were traveling across the Danziger Bridge under police
escort on their way to launch barges into Lake Pontchartrain to help
plug the breech in the 17th Street Canal when they came under fire.The
bridge spans a canal connecting Lake Pontchartrain and the
Mississippi River.

A number
of arrests were made throughout the affected area, including near the
New Orleans Convention Center. A temporary jail was constructed of
chain link cages in the city train station.

In Texas,
where more than 300,000 evacuees are located, local officials have
run 20,000 criminal background checks on the evacuees, as well as on
the relief workers helping them and people who have opened up their
homes. Most of the checks have found little for police to be
concerned about. The number of homicides in Houston from September
2005 through February 22, 2006 went up by 23% relative to the same
period a year before; 29 of the 170 murders involved displaced
Louisianans as a victim, a suspect, or both.

Katrina
was the third most intense hurricane to hit the United States in
recorded history. In the Atlantic Basin it achieved the status of the
fourth lowest central pressure ever recorded.

By cost

Many
estimates predict that Katrina was the costliest storm in history to
strike the United States, surpassing Hurricane Andrew which ravaged
Miami-Dade County, Florida, in 1992.

By
death toll

1,836 total

In terms
of fatalities it was the second deadliest named storm to hit the US,
and may be declared the deadliest.

News
reports initially claimed that Katrina would be the deadliest
hurricane since Hurricane Camille (which killed 256) in 1969. Katrina
has since far surpassed that number. The deadliest named storm in the
United States prior to Katrina was Hurricane Audrey in 1957 which
officially killed 390, although up to 160 more were never accounted
for. Roughly 20,000 people are still believed to be missing as of
September 1, so it is possible that this will be the most profound
disaster of any kind in U.S. history.

For
comparison. the deadliest named Atlantic storm was Hurricane Mitch,
which killed over 18,000 people in Central America in 1998; the
deadliest Atlantic storm on record was the Great Hurricane of 1780,
which killed over 22,000; and the deadliest tropical cyclone on
record anywhere is the 1970 Bhola cyclone, which killed at least
150,000 (some figures are closer to 500,000) people in East Pakistan
(now Bangladesh).

Other
USA hurricanes

Katrina
has been compared with Hurricane Camille in that the hurricane was
also an intense Category
5 storm which made landfall in the
same general area. Katrina has also drawn comparisons to Hurricane
Betsy, because of its similar track and potential effects on New
Orleans. In 1965, Betsy struck New Orleans after passing over the
Florida Keys, causing over $1.5 billion USD in damage in 1965 (over
$9 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars), and the deaths of 75
people, earning it the nickname "Billion Dollar Betsy".
However, Betsy was only a fast-moving Category 3 hurricane, limiting
its potential for devastation, while Katrina was a massive,
slow-moving Category 4 storm. For Katrina, some potential damage
estimates exceed the $36 billion damage (in current dollars) caused
by Hurricane Andrew (previously the most destructive natural disaster
to have hit the United States).

Other
USA city devastations/disasters

Katrina
also caused the first total devastation of a major American city
since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fires.

Other
disasters in New Orleans

This is
the greatest disaster in New Orleans since its founding in 1700's.

Other
levee disasters

There has
been no other levee breach in the USA causing such a level of death
or evacuation. There has been greater devastation by levee breaches
in other parts of the world, however: the 1931 Huang He flood and
following levee breaches killed millions.

Comparison
to other evacuations/refugee crisis

Other
cites which have been evacuated are. In 1999 the Kosovo War led to
800,000 refugees leaving Kosovo and being accommodated for up to 3
months in other parts of Europe. In September 1939, at the outset of
the Second World War, London and major British cities were evacuated
with 1.5 million displacements in the first 3 days of the official
evacuation taking place reaching a final total of 3.75 million.

September
3, 2005

Flames
rage on waterfront

Blazes
break out on New Orleans waterfront

Bush:
7,000 active duty troops to aid Katrina efforts

Many
still trapped by filthy floodwaters

Evacuation
of stricken city slowly making strides

Military
to send home 300 troops from Iraq, Afghanistan

* U.S.
troops have started moving emergency relief supplied into New Orleans
and are trying to halt widespread looting and horrific violence as
they feed evacuees and move them to shelters in Texas.

*
President George W. Bush ordered thousands more troops to New Orleans
to help pull desperate refugees out of the hurricane-ravaged city,
force looting gangs off the streets and find the dead.

* Bush
plans to return to the disaster-hit region on Monday.

* U.S.
Attorney Jim Letten said police and prosecutors in New Orleans were
ready to hunt down a group of criminals responsible for
"horrendous" crimes in the city following the hurricane's destruction.

* Three
luxury cruise liners will serve as temporary housing for victims of
Hurricane Katrina for the next six months. Two will be based in
Galveston, Texas, and the other will be docked in Mobile, Alabama.

* A visit
by Chinese President Hu Jintao to the White House has been postponed
because of the hurricane.

* The
military will send home from Iraq and Afghanistan more than 300 Air
Force airmen who are based at an installation in Mississippi so they
can assist their families who were affected by the hurricane.

*Marathon
Oil Corp. said it expected all seven of it oil refineries to be
operating at capacity Monday. Eight refineries in southeast Louisiana
and Mississippi, or more than 10 percent of the country's refining
capacity, were shut as a result of the hurricane.

QUOTES

*
"Many of our citizens are simply not getting the help they need,
especially in New Orleans, and that is unacceptable," President
Bush said. "Where our response is not working we'll make it
right. Where our response is working we will duplicate it."

*
"There is rapes going on here. Women cannot go to the bathroom
without men. They are raping them and slitting their throats. They
keep telling us the buses are coming but they never leave," said
32-year-old Africa Brumfield in New Orleans.

*
"The streets of New Orleans belong to its citizens, not the
violent thugs who have stuck their heads up out of holes in an
attempt to exploit a national tragedy," U.S. Attorney Jim Letten
said. "Not one inch of that city is going to be ceded to that element."

*"There's
still some danger because power's not up and the nights are
dark," said Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco. "We have a lot
to go through before we get comfortable."

* During
an NBC benefit concert for the victims of the storm, rapper Kanye
West said, "George Bush doesn't care about black people."

* Air
Force Brig. Gen. Allen Peck, explaining why 300 airmen deployed in
Iraq and Afghanistan were being sent home to hurricane-ravaged
region, said: "They can't effectively perform the mission of
their heads and hearts are focused on the safety and welfare of their
loved ones."

*
"What am I going back to? My house is gone. I lost everything.
I'm planning on staying here."Jeffery
Joseph, a 49-year-old truck driver and refugee from New Orleans, who
does not plan to return to his family home after the devastating hurricane.

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